Babywearing Trend: New Native Carrier Vs. Sweet Fletcher

Babywearing is one of the newest trends in infant care. It is anything but a new concept. Babywearing is the practice of wearing or carrying a baby or child in a sling or other form of carrier. It has been practiced for years around the globe but has gotten new popularity with the rise in popularity of attachment parenting. Many child experts such as Dr. Sears and Dr. Harvey Karp encourage babywearing because it provides a greater attachment between baby and parents. Parents recommend baby wearing because it allows for baby to be held while giving the parent two free hands to clean, cook, or even take care of older children. Many babywearers have found that it is easier on the back and shoulders than carrying their infant in a car seat. The weight of the child is spread more evenly across the upper body.

As could be predicted this trend has been capitalized on and they are now several different companies making slings. Sings have become more than just practical- they are now a fashion statement. When I first decided to buy a sling, I was clueless on which one I should get. After going to friends and websites for advice I determined what really mattered in choosing a sling, To make my decision on which sling I should purchase , I compared ease of navigating the company's website, price, styles , resale value, and quality of construction. My two favorite slings are the New Native Carrier and the Sweet Fletcher.

The first thing I noticed about the carriers was of course their websites. Sweet Fletcher has a very basic looking website but lets you see large swatches of the fabric that will be used and also let you see pictures of the full sling, so you get a good idea what it will look like. Check out with Sweet Fletcher is easy. Once you add to cart, it takes you to a screen where you can decide if you want to look around more or pay . If you are done, it will take directly to pay pal so you can process your payment. The New Native web site looks like it has a better layout, because it has side tabs to help navigate you directly to placing an order, However after you click place an order, you have to navigate through a couple of pages before you get examples of what the different fabrics look like. Instead of being able to hit the fabric you like and ordering that way, you have to choose it from a drop down box. When you chose what you want, it adds to cart and you have to manually choose checkout. Check out then takes several steps. Over all the New Native website is much less user friendly than Sweet Fletcher's website.

Sweet Fletcher only has one style of baby carrier (heavy duty cotton) with many reversible fabric choices. New Native has three different styles of carriers (cotton, organic cotton, and silk) all available with different fabric choices and the cotton ones can be hand painted or use special trim. New Native offers a large variety of options although I prefer Sweet Fletcher's slings for style because the patterns are more stylish and all reversible, so you get two slings for the price of one.

Since New Native has several options to choose from price wise its hard to compare it to Sweet Fletcher. However, if you were to buy a regular cotton sling from New Native, they normally run 40 dollars compared to Sweet Fletcher that run $65.00. The New Native has a slightly higher resale value because it is a bigger company and they have a good reputation; whereas, Sweet Fletcher is a small less known company.

Both Sweet Fletcher and New Native have basically the same design. I do favor Sweet Fletcher's design better for two reasons. They triple stitch the slings and you can see exactly where it is stitched at. Also they design the slings to hold baby more securely. With the New Native, I always found myself holding the baby because I was afraid he would roll out.

I would definitely recommend the Sweet Fletcher to any one buying their first sling. Even though they are slightly more expensive and a newer company. They have are much easier to order from online, have great fabric choices, and most importantly I feel they are more secure for babies.